After our first leisurely outing up Latrigg on a visit to Lucy's dad's in May, we finally made it back into the hills to enjoy a few fells
We'd learned all about the fun of the Egremont Crab Fair a while back, so planning to attend that drew us to this south western corner of Wainwright's fells.
We scrambled to leave Otley by 5 to allow us to get to the Woolpack Inn at Boot before they closed the kitchen. There we found a warm welcome, good pizza, good booze and a basic camping field for our first night
We woke up to a clear day that we would start with the pubs breakfasts. I had the full vegan with Lucy opting out for a butty that was bigger than the brekkie.
We set out walking from the pub down the road and then crossed the river to start a relatively steep climb up a cart track. It became apparent pretty much immediately that we'd not be following the public footpath marked on the OS map, as it appeared to go straight up the fall line through the scrub, whereas the track zig-zagged up the hill.
The OS map showed the route as a feint black so we just went with it...
The trail flattened out at the top of the first climb and then meandered along the tops for a mile or two leading us towards the base of Green Crag.
There was no route to the summit on the map, but on the ground it was easy to follow previous trekkers routes and after a short sharp rocky climb, we had summited our second Wainwright.
The 360 degree views were awe inspiring (a constituent of a long healthy life), with views out the sea over the River Esk estuary on one side, with a classic Lake District mountain vista to the East - showing us our route across the valley to the base of Harter Fell
Again, it was clear the public footpath marked on the map wasn't really used, with the tracks on the ground showing a much more direct route down to the valley and then across a bog. It had certainly not been dry much in the summer of 2023, but luckily the ground was just dry enough to be easily passable - spongy with occasional puddles, but good walking.
The climb up Harter Fell was our first real steep and long climb of our Wainwright's experience. From 350m at the base, to the peak at 653m was a consistently steep rocky climb.
We shared MuMu duties on the way up, which was good at times as she can certainly provide a bit of uphill assistance. It was warm at this point of the day and I got a proper sweat on, which Lucy noted from my steaming head.
Although a tough climb we seemed to reach the peak without too many niggles, to find a bunch of old timers at the top, who had clearly crested many more peaks than we ever have.
This peak saw us hit 732m vertical ascent for the day, which was plenty for a couple of middle age office working amateurs.
The walk down showed a couple of options, but we ended up heading pretty much down the fall line on a decent track until we hit the bridleway that traversed the bottom of the fells back to our start point. The downhills showed up my weakness and I don't think my short Altberg Jorvik shoes really were suited. They're quite a high sole but narrow and feel likely to roll an ankle on the downhills, along with being quite hard. Great for the flatter his walks we do everyday, but less good in the mountains.
After a well earned pint back at the Woolpack we set of in the van for our next stay over at Church Stile campsite in Nether Wasdale.
Our spot at the campsite gave us a great view of the upper half of Illgill and When Rigg - and some decisions to make for the next day's walk...
